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Welsh Water customers have 'highest levels of trust and satisfaction'

Independent research shows customers would recommend Welsh Water more than any other UK water company

Company had highest satisfaction for value-for-money and trust

Scored highest rating for almost all customer satisfaction measures for water and wastewater services

Welsh Water also named highest-rated utility in UK for customer service in separate study

Independent research has revealed that Welsh Water household customers have significantly higher levels of trust than other companies and record the best satisfaction levels in their services.

Welsh Water customers recorded significantly higher levels of satisfaction in almost all measures of services, value-for-money and to agree that their charges are fair, compared to the other combined water and wastewater companies in England and Wales.

It comes as a separate survey, carried out by the Institute of Customer Service, showed Welsh Water as the highest-rated utility in the UK – higher than all other water and energy companies.

Welsh Water is the only not-for-profit water company in England and Wales – meaning it has no shareholders and instead has independent, volunteer “Members” – and invests any surplus money it makes back into services and to benefit customers.

The Water Matters research, carried out by the Consumer Council for Water, revealed Welsh Water to be the highest-rated company for its “Net Promoter Score (NPS)” - which measures the “loyalty” of customers to a company.

The findings show Welsh customers have higher ratings in England and Wales across a number of key measures, including:

Overall satisfaction with experience with their company (89% in Wales vs 85% in England)

Higher levels of trust (8.18 rating in Wales vs 7.67 in England)

Satisfaction with water services (94% in Wales vs 90% in England) and sewerage services (90% in Wales vs 85% in England)

Agree charges are fair (70% in Wales vs 62% in England)

Satisfaction with value-for-money for water (82% in Wales vs 71% in England) and wastewater (82% in Wales vs 74% in England)

Welsh Water has highest NPS of all companies – with 44 versus an overall score for England of 16

The Consumer Council for Water is the independent representative of household and business water consumers in England and Wales.

The Institute of Customer Service’s Insight (UKCSI) study looked at the quality of customer service as a whole in the UK, across 13 sectors of the economy. It is based on customer surveys carried out every six months.

Welsh Water’s overall score of 79.2 was its highest UKCSI score which put it in top position of the utilities sector. The company’s score is 2.1 points ahead of the overall UKCSI which stands at 77.1, and the rest of the sector which stands at 72.1.

The news follows the announcement that Welsh Water would invest a record high £47 million “customer dividend” in a range of projects to benefit its customers as a result of its not-for-profit way of working.

Chief Executive, Chris Jones, said: “Our not-for-profit way of working enables us to focus all of our efforts on meeting the needs and expectations of the people we provide services to – so it is encouraging that customers in Wales feel more positive about the services they receive, and have more trust in their company with this vital public resource.

“But we know we need to listen to our customers more than ever to build on these positive findings – and this report will provide a vital basis for us to work from.”